Why is a failed ACH payment more likely to trigger an NSF fee than a failed Visa/MasterCard debit payment?

Question

Background information (you can skip this)

The average NSF (insufficient funds) fee in the US is $34. (Source.) Dipping below a zero balance can sometimes lead to hundreds of dollars in cascading NSF fees, which could then eat up some or all of a person's next paycheck. (Source.) In fact, part of the reason why banks can offer "free" checking is because they make so much money from NSF fees. (Source.)

My question

I could be wrong. But it seems to me that, when a US resident has an empty bank account and no overdraft protection:

• Failed pre-authorized monthly ACH payments sometimes cause the bank to levy an NSF (insufficient funds) fee. (Source.)
• Failed pre-authorized monthly Visa/MasterCard debit payments are probably less likely to trigger an NSF fee (though an NSF fee still can happen.)

Why is it that failed monthly ACH payments are probably more likely to trigger an NSF fee than failed monthly Visa/MasterCard debit payments?

Answer 1

"probably less likely" - citation needed. To the best of my knowledge, overdraft fees are levied when you go into the negative, no matter how. That said, debit transactions require pre-authorization and can be declined, so you're less likely to go into the negative.

Also, as mentioned by others in the comments, NSF and overdraft are slightly different concepts. NSF is usually charged for bounced checks (in which case you don't actually go into the negative).